On Hell and Forgiveness

[LadyForCamus]

I get the impression you’re trying to paint my objection as some kind of emotional appeal, but it isn’t. it’s a logical one: If it is true that god is a rational, intelligent mind who is bound by his nature, then it follows that god’s actions must be logically consistent with his expressed goals and desires. If god’s expressed goal is to save as many souls as possible, then any action (or inaction) that fails to secure the best possible outcome is logically inconsistent with that goal. 

First, God could have multiple goals or multi-level goals. Second, part of God's knowledge is that of counterfactuals. He would know that if Person A was given sufficient evidence, they would freely choose to have a relationship with him (his goal). Alternatively, he would know that Person B would not. The solution is that God will provide the sufficient evidence (customized) for Person A.  This solution has the added benefit of working for all places and all generations. Do I know perfectly how this works? No. But it does serve to gut your conclusion that God would logically show himself if he existed.

The solution has the benefit of being an ad hoc rationalization for why god does not perform an act that is well within his capabilities and seems intuitively obvious, but it’s not a defeater to my premise.  There is no reason to think that god making himself indisputably known via this “message in the sky” you speak of wouldn’t yield a net greater number of humans choosing to have a relationship with him. And I should expect that relationship is, if not his only goal, at least his most important one, considering it’s the only one that carries a consequence of eternal suffering if we don’t hold up our end of the bargain.